On the first 6 Mondays this semester we had trips with the Norwegian friluftsliv class. The first two trips where planed by the Norwegian and the three last by us. Most of the trips took place in Jegersberg.
1. Moday Trip (18h of January):
The theme for the first Monday Trip was “A typical Norwegian family Sunday”. This day we brought our cross-country skis and after some warming-up games, we were divided into two groups. The Norwegian prepared two station. First my group split up into two smaller groups and we raced against each other in a relay. At the second station we practice our downhill, did some slalom and jumping. While lunch break we made a big fire, and afterwards we went out for the big (4km) or small (500m) skiing round in Jegersberg.
2. Monday Trip (25th of January):
For this day the Norwegian prepared 4 Station and we were divided into 4 groups. Our first station was a blindfolded trust game. Therefore we were divided into two groups of four. One person of each group had to cover his/her eyes and was guided by the group to one of the nearby dropped items. After grapping an item the group led the person back to the starting point and the blindfold changed. Every group was timed by the station leader. Next, we took part in the snow figure contest. There we should built a snow figure and at the end the station leader chose the best one. At the third we had to build a shelter in under 20 minutes. For the last station the Norwegians prepared a relay. The first group member should do the track without poles, the second one with only one ski. And the last two were tied together.
3. Monday Trip (1st of February):
On the third Monday Trip the snow was gone and it rained the whole day. Right in the beginning we were divided into two group. We hiked in Jergersberg and did some activities. Every group did the same route but from the opposite direction. First we used the maps and always two of the group had to lead to a point on the way. Then we were divided up into two smaller groups and each group should carry a person with a ´broken leg´ up the hill and down again. Afterwards, we should stabilize the broken leg somehow and did the same again. At the third station we had 10 minutes to build a tower made of wood sticks and the highest one won. After lunch our first task was to start a fire and burn the rope which was stretched over the fire. At the next station one person per group should run to a place nearby the stage where was built up a figure out of wooden bricks. After returning to the group this person had to tell his team how to rebuild the figure. If the group was not able to finish the figure another person had to run until it is done. The last station was a race. First, we had to walk very fast. After that we were allowed to run and finally we should carry a girl of the group on our backs.
4. Monday Trip(15th of February):
For the first time it was the turn of the international students to organize a Monday trip. Chris, Martin, Marek, Joey, Jill, Saedis and I planed the trip and prepared some games about group dynamic exercises/teambuilding. We invented a rally with 5 different games. The games took place in different places on the 4 km round in Jegersberg. Each group got points for how fast they completed the task and how well they worked together. The winning team got a price in the end.
The stations:
- wood throwing competition
- crocodile game
- boulder game
- turn the tarp ( while everyone is standing on it)
- spider net ( blindfolded)
Evalutation
The Monday trips in the beginning of the semester were a good chance to come closer in contact with the other students in our class. Therefore the group dynamic games worked very well. In addition to that we spent a lot of time with the Norwegian. They told us a lot about Norway and I think it was just to get closer in contact with some Norwegian. On these Trips we also learned more about fire making, we did a bit of orienteering and we got some practice with our cross-country skis But think the main focus of these trips was not only to improve our skiing and outdoor skills itself, I think these trips were more about group dynamics and group development and helped us to strengthen our group cohesion. While the trips we also played a lot of games which I didn’t knew before. All these game we can use when we work with people in outdoors in spare time jobs or later on. Unfortunately I couldn’t take part in the two last Monday trips, because during the fifth one I still was in Tromsö on a self-organized trip and on the last one I was sick.